Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03HARARE2122
2003-10-24 10:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

ENGAGING SOUTH AFRICANS ON ZIMBABWE

Tags:  PREL PINR ZI SF 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002122 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2008
TAGS: PREL PINR ZI SF
SUBJECT: ENGAGING SOUTH AFRICANS ON ZIMBABWE

REF: PRETORIA 5568

Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D
C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002122

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2008
TAGS: PREL PINR ZI SF
SUBJECT: ENGAGING SOUTH AFRICANS ON ZIMBABWE

REF: PRETORIA 5568

Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D

1.(C) Embassy Harare would also like to see the study
proposed reftel on the cost of Zimbabwe's economic implosion
on South Africa and the region and the growth lost to the
region by Zimbabwe's failure to grow at even a modest rate.
Some recent numbers our economic section has run show a
decline in GDP of 31 per cent since 2000 and about 40 per
cent since 1997 to USD 3.5 billion. Zimbabwe's current GDP
per capita is now USD292, roughly equivalent to that of
Mozambique and less than Zambia's USD340, numbers which shock
citizens of all three countries. Many Zimbabwean workers earn
80 per cent less in real terms than they did in the 1990's.
Zimbabwe has gone from a trade surplus of USD350 million in
2000 to a projected USD450 million deficit this year, a net
loss of USD800 million. Zimbabwe's import capacity has
declined by about one third to 1.8 billion USD this year, a
decline of almost a billion dollars since 1997, representing
lost exports to its principal trading partners, including
South Africa.
SULLIVAN